rylee adamson 10 - blood of the lost (16 page)

I stepped back and glanced down into a shimmering mass of water.

“Leap before you look,” I said and jumped.

I hit the water, shocked when the heat washed over me. Hot springs then, not an underground lake.

For a moment, time stilled and a soft voice whispered over me.

Those who are chosen for greatness rarely want it, Rylee. You are doing well, my child. Very well, indeed, with the burden you have been given.
The voice of an entity I’d never met and yet I knew her.

This was the realm of the mother goddess that Lark spoke of. I felt her approval and power run through me while the hot spring heated my body.

The water broke over my face and I sucked in a deep breath, already forgetting the words, already focusing on the two figures in front of me on the sandy shore.

One was Jonathan, flat on his back and naked as the day he was born. The other was a female demon on top of him. Also naked.

He let out a soft groan. “I thought she liked me.”

“I’ll bet you did, dumbass,” I snapped as I sloshed out of the water. For once, I was glad I wasn’t wearing my leather coat. The demon looked up at me. I gave her a wave with my fingers as she snarled. Standing, her body was more than lithe; it was emaciated to the point of her hips and ribs protruding at angles that were anything but healthy.

“Well, hello. I’m guessing you’re Famine? Shall I call you Fanny Famine?”

Famine strolled toward me, her hands slipping over her body, touching the bones that jutted from her hips, ribs, and shoulders. “Call me whatever you like.”

“All righty then, Fanny it is.” I swirled my two swords, loosening my wrists. The slosh of water to my left was the only indicator I had that Lark was out of the water; I didn’t dare turn my head to check.

Fanny stared at me, then narrowed her eyes. “You have a mark on you. The mark of the Hoarfrost demon.”

I touched my breastbone with the handle of one sword. “That was the first demon I killed, snaggy bitch. And you are about to be yet another in a long list.”

Her snarling lips tipped upward. “You should be dead already, but I can remedy that.”

She lunged at me, her hands outstretched, going straight toward my chest. I stepped back with one foot to brace myself and drove both swords through her stomach, all the way to the hilt. Her body sagged and I put a hand on her forehead.

“Go back to where you’re from, Fanny.”

Her head snapped up and she laughed at me. “Not that easy with me, Slayer. Not that easy at all.”

Her hands slammed into my chest and threw me back into the water. I sunk to the sandy bottom and then pushed myself up, or at least, I tried to. I heard Lark roar through the water.

“She’s tied to the water. Get the hell out, Rylee!”

If only it were that easy. I pushed off the bottom again, my lips just breaking the surface long enough for me to gulp a breath down. Barely.

Motherfucking hell, I was not going to be drowned.

But how was I going to get my ass out of this?

CHAPTER 19

LARK

RYLEE WAS STILL under the water. I dropped my spear and rushed the demon. Weapons were obviously not going to work on this bitch. I grabbed her around the throat even as she tried to repeat her move on me that had sent Rylee into the hot spring.

“Keep trying, ugly,” I snarled as I dug my thumbs into her windpipe. If I could knock her out maybe—

Both of her feet came up hard and fast, kicking into my stomach as her toes lengthened into six-inch long claws. They slashed at my belly and I fought to dodge each blow even as I clamped harder on her neck.

Her eyes bugged out and her tongue purpled and flapped at me, but I wasn’t fooled. It as an act. Her arms flailed at me, clawing at my skin, opening me up. To the left of me, a torchlight flickered.

“Let my friend up,” I said as I dragged her toward the open flame.

“Fuck you,” she spit out.

Yeah, that was about what I’d expected. I yanked her sideways and stuffed her head into the open flame. Fed by a natural gas pocket, the fire was hot and couldn’t be snuffed out.

Fanny—as Rylee had named her—screamed and writhed, her hair catching fire, burning off her head in a flash with the scent of charred skin.

A burst of water and Rylee was slogging back out.

I didn’t pull Fanny from the flame, but held her there until Rylee caught up to me, dripping wet and panting. “Bring her out. We need information, and she’s fucking well giving it to us.”

I pulled Fanny out of the flame, twisted her around, and tied her hands behind her back with my belt. Of course, I made sure to push her head hard into the gritty sand, knowing how it would stick to the burns.

She was a demon, I didn’t have to play nice.

Rylee grabbed her and spun her around. Yeah, the sand had ground in good, the charred and sticky skin holding it like glue.

“I’m going to ask you a question. Yes or no. That’s all I need.”

Fanny laughed, though the sound was strangled. “And pray tell, why would I help you?”

I was impressed that Rylee leaned in as close as she did, putting her nose right to the weeping stump that had been Fanny’s nose. “Orion has threatened my daughter, has killed my friends and family. He’s taking everything I love from me. You do know he’s afraid of me, don’t you?”

“He’s terrified,” she said. “But I’m not.”

Rylee smiled and I could see the edge of it, and I was proud of her. She’d grown up a lot, and the look on her face said it all. Fanny would not like what was going to happen to her.

“Do you know I won’t be sending you back to the seventh Veil when I break you apart from this body? You will die. Cease to exist. Pfft. Gone.”

Fanny shrugged, but I could see the tension in her. I swayed on my feet, feeling the fight in my whole body. I put a hand to my head and went to one knee.

“Rylee, something is wrong.” I looked up to see Rylee’s eyes widen with horror and Fanny lunge toward her, the burns gone.

“Famine,” the demon hissed. “I feed from my victims and their strengths become mine. And you have very strong friends, Rylee.”

The ground rumbled and I knew we were in deep shit.

Across from us, Jonathan stumbled to his feet, his hands searching for something. He grabbed a stick and scribbled into the sand as I lay incapacitated, watching Fanny and Rylee dodge each other’s blows.

Jonathan looked up, his eyes catching mine. “The only way we all survive is if you kill the demon.”

“No fucking shit, Sherlock,” Rylee screamed at him as her left foot touched the water.

“You have to pull her guts out, along with her tongue!” the kid yelled, looking at what he had written in the sand. “That’s the only way.”

Rylee nodded. “One eviscerated demon, coming the fuck up.”

My whole body convulsed as the demon pulled on my strength. I fought her, did my best to hold back. If she got a hold of my abilities with Spirit, we were done.

I reached for Spirit and threaded it through my body, using more of it than I’d done in a very long time. It took everything I had left to lift my head. This was a long shot, but I had to try.

“Fanny. Stop.”

The demon froze, a shocked look on her face. Spirit roared through me, the strength of it making my words a physical weight that even the demon could not deny.

“What have you done?” she growled at me, shaking as she tried to throw the bonds I’d laid on her.

I wet my lips, tasting the salt of the earth below me. “Give me back my strength.” Spirit flooded my words with power and with them, Fanny did as she was told, though she screamed the whole time. She fell to her knees and Rylee didn’t waste any time.

With two quick swipes of her sword the demon’s belly was open. Rylee booted Famine in the chest, knocking her to her back as I stood and made my way to her side.

Together, we pulled the demons stomach out, except that it wasn’t a stomach like any creature I’d seen. Tiny balls, like glowing orbs rested within her body cavity.

Rylee pulled one out and looked at it. “Other people’s energy.” She crushed the ball in her hand and it zipped away while Fanny cried.

With each orb we crushed, her body became frailer until she was a skeleton with a taut covering of skin barely holding it together. Her red eyes flickered dimly. “I hate you, I hate all of you on this side of the Veil.”

Rylee leaned over her. “Any last words before I cut out your tongue and throw it in the flames?”

Fanny glared at her. “Your daughter will die in your place and it will be your fault.”

With a vicious jab, Rylee drove her sword into the back of the demon’s throat and slid her blade across. Half Fanny’s jaw and her tongue flopped out. Rylee picked it up and took it to the brazier, tossing it in.

Fanny writhed at my feet, her eyes wide with shock. “She isn’t dead yet.”

“I know. I’m going to remedy that.” Lifting her sword high above her head she paused at the zenith. The blade began to glow with a pure white light, like with the last horseman, Pestilence. The glowing sword lit up the cavern as if there were no other torch’s lit. Rylee drove it down with enough force that it buried through Fanny’s heart, all the way to the hilt.

With her hands still holding the handle, Rylee whispered softly. “Go to where you belong. Wherever that is.” The softness in her voice surprised me.

Peta’s voice caught me off guard. “That is the only way to truly end a demon, Lark. They only know hate and death and fear. You must be the antithesis of that. You must kill them with love. You could do it, if you were trained. That is another strength of Spirit.”

I turned to see my familiar a few feet away, sitting on her haunches. “So I see you listened as well and stayed where you were told to.”

The cat shrugged. Felines, they always did what they wanted, regardless.

“But why is it so hard to kill these demons?” I asked.

Peta let out a soft meow and shifted to her housecat form. “Let Rylee hear me. She needs to understand.”

That surprised me; not that Rylee needed to understand, but that Peta would allow her voice to be heard by anyone who wasn’t an Elemental. I beckoned Rylee.

“Peta wants to talk to us both.”

Rylee’s eyebrows shot up as the rest of the entourage came running onto the sand. Peta, though, didn’t move, her green eyes unblinking as she watched us.

I put a hand on Rylee’s shoulder and let a trickle of Spirit run through her, opening her to Peta’s voice.

My cat nodded and then began. “The demons you face, they are more dangerous because as long as there is war, famine, death, and pestilence in this world, they have a place to draw power from. It is the only reason you were able to kill the first two; famine and pestilence. They can be isolated. Death and War will wait for you on the battlefield, where each kill that happens, each fight that occurs, will feed them. And in turn, they will feed Orion’s strength.”

Rylee let out a slow breath. “I think I can stop Orion. But I need to get close to him.”

“Wait,” I held up a hand. “Peta, since when do you know so much about demons?”

Her eyes were sad. “I was alone a long time, unable to find you, but knowing you were out there. You told me to be ready when you came back. That we would have more strife ahead. I went to every library in the elemental world and learned. Five years in each family and five spent in the human world learning. There was more on demons than I’d like, but I am glad for it now.”

I scooped her up and held her tightly to my chest. “You are amazing, my friend.”

A slow purr rumbled out of her. “Of course I am. I’m a cat, after all.”

Rylee reached out and brushed a hand over Peta’s back. “Any ideas on how to get close to Orion, oh mighty cat of knowledge?”

Peta nodded. “Actually, yes. But first thing’s first. Lark, your father is awake and I believe he is headed here. Which means we need to go. Right now.”

I jumped to my feet, but it was already too late. As I spun, my father waited for me on the steps that led into the hot springs.

“How dare you come back, Larkspur? How dare you steal into my home like a thief in the night?” His words were harsh, but the tone was all disappointment.